LINKS - August 23rd, 2023
Welcome to LINKS — my attempt to provide Rhapsody readers with five interesting stories that tell us something about what it means to be human. LINKS is published every Wednesday. Have a link you want to share? Drop it in the comments.
Horrifying numbers of Americans will not make it to old age
“According to a study by Jessica Ho of the University of Southern California, published last year, which looked at 18 high-income countries, from a fairly average position in 1980, by 2018 America had fallen to dead last on life expectancy. In the 1960s Americans could expect to live seven or eight years longer than people from Portugal, the country in the study that now has the next-lowest life expectancy. By 2018 they could expect to live over a year less. Areas like eastern Kentucky, which have been worst hit, help illustrate why.”
The “alpha male” myth, debunked
With Frans de Waal, Big Think
“De Waal criticizes the misconception of the term as synonymous with “bully.” He further explores the concept of gender, arguing its flexibility and highlighting the existence of significant individual variability in behavior among primates. De Waal emphasizes empathy as a key factor in social cohesion, suggesting it might hint at morality among primates. “
Appalachian Folk Magic: Generations of “Granny Witchcraft” and Spiritual Work
By Emma Cieslik, Folklife Magazine
“When these Scottish, Irish, and English settlers arrived, they combined their traditional practices with Native American knowledge about flowers, berries, roots, and leaves native to Appalachia. Settlers from Germany and people of African descent also shared their wisdom about rituals and natural remedies. Out of this large melting pot was born a uniquely American faith tradition practiced mostly by familial matriarchs.”
A Stroke Stole Her Ability to Speak at 30. A.I. Is Helping to Restore It Years Later.
By Pam Belluck, The New York Times
“The research, published in the journal Nature, demonstrates the first time spoken words and facial expressions have been directly synthesized from brain signals, experts say. Mrs. Johnson chose the avatar, a face resembling hers, and researchers used her wedding toast to develop the avatar’s voice. "
Pre-Inca people stomped salutes to their thunder god on a special dance floor
“Excavations at a high-altitude site in Peru called Viejo Sangayaico have revealed how members of a regional farming and herding group, the Chocorvos, constructed this reverberating platform, says archaeologist Kevin Lane of the University of Buenos Aires. Different layers of soil, ash and guano created a floor that absorbed shocks while emitting resonant sounds when people stomped on it. This ceremonial surface worked like a large drum that groups of 20 to 25 people could have played with their feet, Lane reports in the September Journal of Anthropological Archaeology.”